By Grace Jones | posted on February 9, 2018
SEVENTEEN-year-old Sophie McDonald will make the trip to Launceston, Tasmania for a second tilt at the Under 18s Australian Hockey Championships next month.
Sophie was part of the Under 18s team last year that won bronze, but repeating the same performance isn’t on the cards.
“This year we’re striving for the gold,” she said.
“There are seven girls from last year’s team that have made it for the 2018 championships, so we know how to play off each other better than before.”
In preparation of the big competition in just over five weeks’ time, Sophie makes the trip to Perth twice a week to train with her team.
“Mum and Dad take turns driving me up to Perth for training,” she said.
“During the week I train with the team, then on weekends we do fitness training to get us to peak performance.
“I only miss out on half a day of school a week, which is really good in comparison to last year.”
Katanning’s Lewis Barritt will also make the trip to Launceston to play in the U18 men’s team.
